Television
Bad timing
For me, by far the most surprising revelation in Martin Durkin’s documentary Nigel Farage: Who Are You? (Channel 4, Monday)…
Our island story
A young pretender raises an army to take the throne. Having recently learnt of his father’s beheading, the adolescent —…
Brothers under the skin
One of the stranger things about Eton is its near-total lack of class snobbery. Yes, all right, you still get…
Channel hopping
So BBC3 will be online-only from next autumn. If the Beeb had presented this news as the channel being the…
Winning formula
I’ve got this brilliant idea for a major new cop series. It’s called Chalk and Cheese and, though you won’t…
In pursuit of the Prince
What if Bonnie Prince Charlie, as he swept down from Scotland towards London to lay claim to the throne, hadn’t…
Blind ambition
Half-term again, so naturally all my TV viewing plans have gone out of the window. In some households — my…
Bonjour, Benelux!
So long, Scandinavia. Bonjour, Benelux! BBC4, your subtitle-friendly channel, has filled the hole left by Nordic-noir The Bridge with Belgian…
Untouchable evil
What a vile piece of work Colonel Gaddafi was. For some of you, perhaps, this will be a statement of…
The end of innocence
Why are we so fascinated by the first world war? As its 100th anniversary approaches, we’re already mired in arguments…
One for all
‘Pshaw!’ That was my first reaction to news of the BBC’s new ten-part Sunday night adaptation of The Three Musketeers.…
Losing the plot
You know the holiday season is over when, instead of being torn between The X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing…
Truths and fallacies
Immigration. Were you aware that this has become a bit of a problem these past ten years? I wasn’t, obviously,…
Staying alive
Sherlock’s not dead. A good thing, since on New Year’s Day BBC1 launched its third series of Sherlock, and it’d…
The lady vanishes
Lloyd Evans tries to get a handle on Birgette Hjort Sorensen
Yuletide joy
So I’m looking at the seasonal TV schedules trying to find something — anything — to watch. Britain and the…
Pensioner passion
Does love run out when life runs out? Or does it intensify, touching and changing all around it? Two series…
The people’s champion
Gary Bell is the rudest man in Britain. I have known the bastard for years and no one —move over,…
Who’s who
If I could go back in time, I’d watch Doctor Who from the very first episode. I wasn’t born in…
Curse you, Sandbrook
Gosh it isn’t half irksome when someone who went to the same school as you but is considerably younger than…
It’s everywhere
They’re now televising proceedings from the Court of Appeal. Great. As if I didn’t have enough to do already, keeping…
Tales of the unexpected
‘Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans,’ said John Lennon. Quite apposite from a man…
Double standards
Will the women on ITV’s The X Factor (Saturday) stop perving? I suppose there are two ways to tackle the…
Farce and furious
Among the criticisms rightly levelled at the BBC are that its commissioning editors are overcautious, unimaginative, unadventurous and over-reliant on…
Watching the detectives
Did Dr Jekyll turn into Jack the Ripper? Besides becoming evil Mr Hyde, did Robert L. Stevenson’s fictional creation morph…
